


the jig is up, the news is out

by notthebigspoon



Series: Mystery in the Making [8]
Category: Baseball RPF, White Collar
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-08-20
Updated: 2012-08-20
Packaged: 2017-11-12 14:00:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,200
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/491831
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/notthebigspoon/pseuds/notthebigspoon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Peter has never stopped looking for Neal. He never will. But Neal is a chameleon, can go anywhere he wants and become anyone he needs to. Finding him, getting him back, it wasn't supposed to be this easy.</p><p>Title taken from Renegade by Styx.</p>
            </blockquote>





	the jig is up, the news is out

**Author's Note:**

> This goes entirely AU after S3 of White Collar.

The first thing Peter sees when he walks into work is a man sitting in his office. Just like it always does when there's someone he can't identify from behind, his heart skips a beat and he hopes, hopes, that Neal has come back. It's foolish, a pipe dream. Neal doesn't want to be found and he has the resources to live under the radar as long as he pleases.

Which will probably be forever.

“Diana? Who is that?”

“Ah, I don't know.” She frowns, fanning a folder. “Name is Stewart. Said it was important that he speak to you. Jones and I offered to help him but he said he wouldn't speak to anybody but you.”

Peter nods. He makes himself get coffee first, glancing up at the glass. There's something odd about this. People don't ask to speak to him directly. People don't know who you are, working for white collar. Or for the FBI period. He wonders, hopes, that it has something to do with Neal. Or Mozzie. But that's likely a pipe dream.

He needs to stop wishing for things that aren't going to happen. He can't help it if he misses his partner. Sighing, he fills his mug and climbs the steps. Walks into his office and puts the mug down. “Peter Burke. What can I do for you?”

The man stands... he's tall. Young looking. He smiles faintly and holds out a hand, “Chris Stewart.”

Peter frowns, tries to place it and then. Oh. He snaps his fingers, pointing at him, “Yankees. Catcher.”

“Guilty.” Stewart answers, sitting back down and leaning forward, resting his arms on his knees. “I'd ask but I already know you're not a Mets fan.”

“How do you know that?”

“I was asked to come here. I'm supposed to tell you that I can help you find Neal Caffrey.”

It's as if all the air has been sucked out of the room. It's dead silent and Peter can't find words to speak. He's been searching, so hard, and it's being dropped right in his lap. Stewart is looking him in the eyes, head tilted as if he's searching for something, trying to gauge Peter's reaction.

“How do you know this?”

“He wants to know he's not going to go back to prison.”

“He bolted his commutation hearing. I can't protect him, Stewart.”

“Chris.”

“I can't protect him, Chris.”

“He knows you can't, not without him bringing something to the table. He can get you Nelson Kinsler and William Gibbs.” Chris answers. It's clear that the names mean little to him. Judging by his body language, he doesn't hold any particular affection Neal, doesn't know him.

“Why are you doing this?”

Chris looks him up and down before shrugging and sitting back in his seat. “Someone important to me asked me to.”

“Look... we can't talk about this here. If I ask you to come to my home, I can offer you and your source immunity.” Peter answers, and when Chris nods, takes a breath. He writes down his address, handing it over. “See you after the game.”

“After the game.”

***

“Hon, relax. Fidgeting isn't going to make him show up any faster. The game hasn't been over that long.”

“El, he knows where Neal is. Or knows how to find him.”

Elizabeth just hums into her glass of wine. “And how do you know it's not someone trying to see if you know where he is? Hughes maybe?”

“That's not it. I went to Hughes with the information. I know better than to try to make a deal that I can't back up. If Neal's good for what Stewart says he's offering, Hughes thinks we can reinstate his original sentence, have him keeping working for us.”

Before she can answer, there's a knock on the front door. El gets it, which is probably a good thing, Peter feels like he might bowl someone over in his eagerness to get the information he's been searching for. That, or perhaps punch Stewart if the guy doesn't give him the info after all.

Stewart looks tired, worse for the wear after the game. He takes a beer with a grateful smile, taking a swig before putting it down. When Peter shows his badge and then places it face down on the table, he nods and clears his throat. He's a straight to business kind of guy, seems like. Peter likes that. “If he can give you Kinsler and Gibbs, what can you offer him? And don't downplay it. I did some googling, I know how badly you want these guys. Almost as bad as you originally wanted Caffrey.”

“At best? Reinstatement of his original sentence. That means back on the tracking anklet, back to having a radius and back to working for White Collar.” 

“And at worst, back to prison, for a lot longer than originally intended.” Stewart answers, nodding and picking at his jeans. “Either way, he was going to surrender. Guess he just wanted to know if you were still on his side.”

Peter nods, taking a drink of his beer before pushing it away. “Look, why are you doing this? I know you don't know Neal. You're not doing this for him. You're doing it for your source. But if you went to the wrong person with this, they could try and take you down with it too. Who is that important to you?”

“You love your wife?”

“Yes.” Peter frowns. “What does that have to do with anything?”

“You'd do anything for her?”

“Of course.”

“Well... god, this is so fucking stupid. I'll be honest, I don't know why I'm doing it. I think he just knows that I can't say no.” Stewart trails off, smiling wryly at Peter. “There was a guy. And I was really in love with him. But I never said anything. Still one of my closest friends but that's all I'm ever going to be. But this guy, he loves Neal. Absolutely crazy about him and he asked me to help, because I'm in New York and I'm still his friend.”

“Who is this guy?”

“You gonna go arrest him?”

“You know what the badge on the table means.”

“Tim Lincecum.”

He did not say that. Tim Lincecum is not sheltering a fugitive from the federal government. That sounds like something Mozzie would make up.

“Might want to breathe, Burke.” Stewart says, and he looks amused before the amusement falls from his face. “So how does this work?”

“I go get him.”

“Just like that?”

“Well, have to talk to my boss. And make sure that I beat another agent to him. Going to make this easy on me me?”

Stewart nods, taking the pen and the notepad that Peter offers him. When he hands it back, there's an address and a phone number written in small block letters. He stands then, and Peter does as well, shaking his hand. “They'll know you're coming. See you around Burke.”

Peter manages to wait until the door shuts behind Stewart before he's grabbing his phone. He calls Hughes, Jones and Diana, kisses his wife goodbye before going to catch a plane.

He's getting his CI back.


End file.
